I think we're all probably already pretty familiar with the concept of Biblical repentance (teshuva in Hebrew), but sometimes it's good to get a little bit of a refresh. It truly is a beautiful way to look at repentance, and is so much different from the idea many people have. When you see the word ''repentance'' or something similar to it, what comes to mind? What thoughts or emotions do you feel when you think of it?
Some people might see the word and think of begging at the feet of a merciless emperor, with his arms folded across his chest and a stern expression on his face. If you don't cry enough and promise enough never to lift your head ever again then he'll have you executed! Or maybe people see repentance as beating yourself so totally into the ground, never even hoping to rise again, and that that would be the ''right'' and ''proper'' way of pleasing the Lord. Whatever you see when you think about repentance, it might be a hard and terrible picture; no wonder people can't change their lives after repentance.
But that's not what repentance is at all. A better word would be ''Teshuva''. That word even sounds happier than the English word.
Let's see what we can learn about teshuva.
Teshuva is repentance on a level up. Firstly, the act of repenting doesn't involve beating yourself up. Yes, it's true! Repenting never involves beating yourself up. All that is required is the sorrow for having done something wrong, deep, heartfelt sadness at having wandered a little from the flock. That's all. It's more of a humbling experience than a beat yourself until you can't even hope for anything better. Humility isn't about thinking less of yourself. Humility is about thinking of others more than yourself. Thinking highly of others doesn't mean you think nothing or the worst of yourself. Think of Moses, who was the most humble man in the Bible. He was so close to God! He had the most honest and straightforward conversations with God, and was used in such an incredible way as a powerful tool to bring God's Torah into the world and make it available to us. Think about that for a moment. Moses literally wrote down what was to become our very life!
Moses wasn't someone who thought very much of himself when God called to Him and assigned him to the task of freeing the people of Israel from slavery to the Egyptians. In fact, he kept telling God that he was absolutely not fit for the task! ''Send someone else!'' Moses cried out to God. ''I'm not capable, I'm not worthy! Don't ask me to do this.''
But God wasn't pleased with Moses's response. He had chosen Moses for the work ahead. Moses may have sounded like he was very humble indeed, because he would rather have Him send someone else because he wasn't worthy of the high calling God had called him to. But really, deep down, one of the reasons why Moses asked God not to send him was because he had some false humility. Moses was trusting in himself. He was trusting in his own worth and in his own strength. ''Moses,'' God said, ''I need you to think of yourself a little bit better. You are My chosen vessel to save My people. They are My people!''
Moses realized that God loved Him and that the people God was sending him to meant so much to God and to His people. Moses wasn't supposed to beat himself up. No, he was meant to step into his calling in the true humility of not thinking less of himself, but rather, thinking of himself less and thinking about the people he was called to lead more.
Secondly, teshuva is something that will bring forth joy and not continual sorrow. Yes, it's good to be completely sorry about what we've done wrong, but after we've repented, don't feel so sorrowful anymore! Walk in joy! You have been fully forgiven and all record of what you did wrong has been blotted out FOREVER. No use going back to an empty page, claiming there's something there, when there isn't! It's only a lesson now, not a condemnation. Praise the Lord for teaching us so beautifully so that we can fully walk in rejoicing and continual feasting!
And thirdly, true teshuva means doing a complete about-face from whatever was wrong and walking in the complete opposite direction. Walk in freedom and not in whatever you were walking in before. Walk the opposite way! Do something better instead of walking on the same old path. You are a completely new creation. Walk in newness of life! Renew your mind and change your old thinking habits. Whenever you are tempted to think of something negative or something along the old path, take that thought captive and make it obidient to Messiah by swapping it for a good and upbuilding thought. Compliment the person nearest to you. Sing a song of thankfulness. Tell yourself, ''In the past, I used to do things this way. But now I am completely new and I love doing (add something you do to bless someone else), and I am so happy! Thank You so much, Father, for giving me complete victory in Your Name!''. Praise Him!
While we're on this subject of teshuva, I would like to add here that we must also do a complete teshuva for all the atrocities the Christians have committed against the Jewish people in the last 2000 years in the Name of Yeshua, or Jesus. We have completely and thoroughly blasphemed His great and holy Name by our bloody actions and hateful attitude towards our brothers through anti-Semitism and replacement theology. We are not the new Israel. We are all part of the commonwealth of God's people, but we have never replaced them in any way. Just because we don't agree with each other is no reason for us, as grafted in Gentiles into the house of Israel, to take the role of the Jewish people in the salvation of the world away because they are no longer ''valid'' in this area. This is a great sin! We must support them in their God-given role and have grace towards them in their shortcomings, because we have plenty of shortcomings ourselves! We need to encourage one another to live holy anf godly lives, honoring God, without trying to teach or change each other. Let's try and humbly (remember the meaning of that word!) sit together and just listen to each other for a change. Let's lift each other up in our God-given roles. God has decided what each one needs to do and what portion he gets, and we don't have to change that just because we think we know better. Dear friends, we don't know better! He has made Israel His inheritance and the apple of His eye FOREVER, no matter where they are in their journey with Him. He is still as much in love with them as when they were at their most perfect. His thoughts towards them has never changed. His plan for them has never changed. Who are we to talk back to God and tell Him He's got it wrong?
It's truly no wonder the Jews have come to hating anything to do with Yeshua with such a vengeance. It's our fault; we must do teshuva and change the fact that we've dressed Yeshua in foreign attire all these years, and without trying to convert the Jews, we must just change the way we dressed Yeshua, and dress Him back into His true Jewish outfit. He will open their eyes as to who He is in His timing. We must only play our part in sanctifying His Name.
Many blessings to you all today xxx
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